Dispenser for paper rolls or the like



June 1970 c. H. WICKENBERG 3,516,515

DISPENSER FOR PAPER ROLLS OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 24, 1968 M WK .Hw ATJ'URNEX.

United States Patent 3,516,615 DISPENSER FOR PAPER ROLLS OR THE LIKE Chester H. Wickenberg, 890 Ford Ave., Elgin, Ill. 60120 Filed Jan. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 700,228 Int. Cl. B65h 19/00 US. Cl. 24255.2 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A paper roll dispenser formed from a single blank of plastic material so as to provide a back mounting plate, side walls having integrally formed on confronting faces thereof projections insertable into the opposite ends of the hollow core of a paper roll or the like, a top wall providing a free end which may be serrated and which, together with the side walls, is held in yieldable contact with the paper roll mounted within the dispenser, with the serrated edge of the top wall acting as a tear edge for the dispenser.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention has as one of its objects the provision of a dispenser made from a single blank of material which readily and conveniently receives and stores a paper roll or the like and which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Heretofore dispensers for paper rolls and the like included a rather complicated structural arrangement which made the changing of the rolls a troublesome operation. One of the most common type includes a telescopic shaft which extends entirely through the hollow core of the paper roll and which presents end portions which must be compressed in the direction of each other so that the shaft together with the core may be removed from the holder. The present invention requires no manipulation of parts, but rather the core is simply disposed within the dispenser and the empty core may be removed from the dispenser by a simple movement which yieldably separates the side walls of the dispenser during the insertion or removal of the paper roll therebetween.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispenser made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a modified form of the dispenser.

In essence, the dispenser consists of a back portion 11, side walls 12, and a cover 13. The back portion 11 is intended to be mounted on a wall or the like, and therefore is provided with suitable holes for the reception of screws or other means of attachment. Each one of the side walls 12 is joined to one of the vertical edges of the back portion 11, and in their normal position the side walls 12 are substantially at right angles with respect to the back portion 11. The side walls 12 in their normal position are in abutment 'with projections 14 formed on the back portion 11 adjacent to the lines of junction between the back wall 11 and the side walls 12, and are maintained in this position by means of a tension spring 15 (FIG. 1), the ends of which are hooked as at 15' onto the side walls 12.

On the confronting surfaces of the side walls 12 there are formed projections 16 which are adapted to project into the bore of the core 17' of a paper roll 17. The free end surfaces of the projections 16 in the execution shown in the drawings are provided with chamfers 18; however, if desired, the whole end surfaces may be chamfered. The chamfered portions 18 serve the purpose of enabling the paper roll 17 to easily enter the dispenser 10.

The insertion of the roll 17 is accomplished by pressing the core 17' of the roll in between the projections 16, whereby the chamfered portions 18 cause the side walls 12 to spread apart under the counter-influence of the spring 15. When the roll 17 has been inserted to its proper position, the projections 16 will snap into the bore of the roll 17.

Because the side walls 12 are kept at a predetermined distance from each other by means of the spring 15 and the projections 14 of the back portion 11, the roll 17 is free to rotate on the projections 16 without any axial restraint. To limit this free rotation and to give an edge for tearing off the paper from the roll 17, the cover 13 is arranged to abut against the paper roll 17 with spring action. Such abutment is accomplished by allowing the middle portion of the tension spring 15 to be pulled toward and attached to the cover 13 in a suitable manner, for instance, by means of a hook 19 which may be an integral part of the cover 13.

One component of the spring tension will then influence the cover 13 in a direction down toward the paper roll 17, and this component can be given the proper magnitude through a suitable section of strength of the spring 15 and the angle between the legs of the spring 15.

If the dispenser is to be used for very wide paper rolls, the spring 15 would become very long. To overcome this condition, the dispenser may be modified as shown in FIG. 72. As seen in FIG. 2, the spring 15 has been replaced by two springs 20, each of which is attached to the adjoining side wall 12 and to the cover 13. In this form of construction, the angle between the springs 20 and cover 13 is such that the force on the cover 13 against the paper roll 17 will be of a desirable magnitude.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not "wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A dispenser for paper rolls and the like comprising (a) a body having a back wall portion and side walls flexibly integral with and extending from opposite :parallel edges of said back wall portion so that the free ends thereof are spaced relative to each other.

(b) a cover dimensioned for overlying a marginal edge of the back wall portion and said side walls,

(0) chamfered confronting projections carried by the free ends of each of said side 'walls at a point thereon beneath the free end of said cover for mounting a paper roll therebetween, with said projections being chamfered in a direction away from said cover so that a paper roll inserted thereon will spread the free ends of said side walls and raise the free end of said cover,

(d) spring means extending between said side walls deformed out of the normal plane therebetween and into attachment with said cover between its side edges and adjacent its contact with the marginal edge of said back wall portion for yieldably urging the free ends of said side walls toward each other and said cover into its overlying position with respect thereto, and

(e) second projections carried by the back wall portion adjacent said side walls for limiting the degree of movement of said free ends of said side walls under the tension of said spring means toward each other so as to prevent the free ends of said side walls 3 4 from frictional contact with a paper roll mounted FOREIGN PATENTS therebetween- 499,269 1/1954 Canada.

References Cited 193,107 12/1964 Sweden.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Primary Examiner 1,018,817 2/1912 Farrell 242-552 US. Cl. X.R. 2,797,054 6/1957 Ruch 242-553 225-46 

